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PA EPA ISSUES MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS

Release Date: 05/08/98Contact Information:

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1998

EPA ISSUES MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS

EPA has issued its final Contaminated Sediment Management Strategy, a workplan describing the Agency’s long-term approaches to assess, reduce and prevent further risks posed by contaminated sediments in many watersheds. The strategy does not discuss the cleanup of specific sites. It is designed to ensure agency-wide consistency, under a number of federal laws, in sediment testing, evaluation, research and remediation. It describes, in general terms, approaches available to the Agency to accomplish four goals: 1) continued control of sources of sediment contamination, such as through permits; 2) reducing the volume of existing contaminated sediments (consideration of remediation alternatives); 3) ensuring proper management of dredged materials; and, 4) developing scientifically sound tools, such as testing methods. The strategy was proposed for public comment in August l994. In January l998, EPA released an inventory of contaminated sediment sites, called the National Sediment Quality Survey. In conducting the survey, EPA found that 96, or seven percent, of the surveyed watersheds pose potential risks to people who eat fish from them and to fish and wildlife. The new strategy describes how EPA program offices intend to use data contained in the survey to support assessment, pollution prevention and remediation activities. Copies of a fact sheet, federal register notice, executive summary, and the Contaminated Sediment Management Strategy may be viewed or downloaded from the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/ost. Copies of the materials also may be obtained from EPA’s National Center for Environmental Publications and Information at 1-800-490-9198; fax: 1-513-489-8695 or by writing to P.O. Box 4241l, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. The Agency contact is Jane Marshall Farris, Office of Water, 202-260-8897.